passive radiator?

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El_Roberto

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my dad is a mechanic so i should be able to get a very large car radiator to use with water cooling and i was just wondering if this would work without fans, becuase my mum says it wont but i think it will,other-wise ill just have to use a small radiator with fans(i really want it to be silent)
 
It depends how large the surface area of the radiator is.

Even if it does work a little, it will work much much better with fans. Radiators aren't made for passive cooling.
 
i'd listen to momma

radiators designed for passive vs. active cooling are designed very differently. passive cooling radiators are designed so the fins allow the air to move vertically and space them more openly because the natural boyancy of hot air moves upwards and fins that are too close to each other restrict this flow. and no, placing the radiator w/ the fins facing up instead of forward will not work. the fin density is too high. you will need to force air.

on a side note, you will more than likely need a pump larger than the typical liquid cooling pump because the pressure drop across a car radiator is enormous compared to a computer radiator.

i suppose there is the possiblity of the radiator being able to hold SO much liquid that it would take days for the computer it heat it up but... it would be touch and go.

you can take my word for it, im a convective heat transfer engineer.
 
The pump is probably going to make more noise than the fans. You can get some fans that are really quiet... like really quiet.
 
k thanks ill prolly use a small airconditioning radiator my dad got me its in mint condition fits 4 80mm fans(160mm wide and 230mm tall)
 
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